e.tv cancels Imbewu after 5 seasons.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Grapevine Productions show Imbewu on e.tv has been cancelled after 5 years with the KwaZulu-Natal series which will conclude at the end of March and get replaced by a new locally-produced drama series.

E.tv gave no reason for the Imbewu cancellation which launched in April 2018 and has been one of the most-watched shows on the red letter channel the past half a decade, with eMedia saying that it remains "committed to its investment in local programming".

The late prime-time series focused on two Durban families - the Bhengus and Rampersads - and aired over 1 000 episodes.

"We'd like to thank the production for its commitment in delivering five great seasons of compelling stories, despite the highly competitive timeslots it found itself at 21:30 and 21:00," says Helga Palmer, eMedia's head of local programming.

The Imbewu co-executive producers, Leleti Khumalo; Duma Ndlovu and Anant Singh, in a statement say "We are proud to have created a trailblazing show that showcased the multicultural environment of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal".

"Imbewu changed the face of the daily drama offering on South African television with its unique storylines, cliffhangers and high drama, resulting in it becoming one of the most-watched shows. We are grateful to our broadcast partner, e.tv for their support of the show and for the opportunity."

South Africa's KZN flooding disaster: How flooded sets paused production and pushed out filming on Uzalo, Durban Gen, Imbewu and a movie.

by Thinus Ferreira

With flooded sets and casts and crew unable to get to work, the destructive rainfall and disastrous flooding in KwaZulu-Natal also damaged South Africa's TV and film industry as it disrupted production of Uzalo as the country's biggest TV show as well as other television series filmed in the province, with at least one locally-shot film that has to pause and push out its start of filming to next month.

South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province is dealing with a growing humanitarian disaster with more than 448 people who have lost their lives so far and billions of rand of damage to infrastructure and property.

The country's cabinet has declared a National State of Disaster in response to floods while KwaZulu-Natal based productions, making some of the biggest shows on South African television are also assessing the damage the floodwater wrought and picking up the pieces.

Uzalo on SABC1 and Durban Gen on e.tv that saw flooded sets and Imbewu on e.tv - all filmed in the province - had to halt production but have and are resuming production again.

The KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission (KZFC) tells TVwithThinus "the floods affected every community in KwaZulu-Natal. Most of the work in TV and film had to be put on hold due to lack of electricity, water and the roads being closed".

"We have not received any updates regarding most productions that had to be paused, however as productions usually take place around the KwaZulu-Natal area, there is a high possibility that they were also affected."

"A feature film called The Score was due to film from 19 April but due to the devastation experience in the province, they had to delay production until 16 May. We are still in the process of determining whether there were other projected affected."

The KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission says it is waiting to hear from producers to indicate what assistance they would need from the commission's side in order to get back in schedule with their filming processes.

"As the industry and an agency of the state, we are comforted by the fact that the government has made an estimation of the loss and are working on ensuring that people's livelihood are restored."

Stained Glass TV, the production company responsible for Uzalo - the most-watched show on South African television and most-watched show on the SABC that drew over 7 million viewers in March on SABC1 - told TVwithThinus that the prime time telenovela had to shut down production for 5 days but has resumed filming.  

The prime time soap Durban Gen, also produced by Stained Glass TV for eMedia's e.tv that lured 2.51 million viewers in March, also had to deal with flooded sets and shut down production for one day and for two days worked with cast and crew who could make it to work.

"Like most of KwaZulu-Natal our productions were also gravely impacted by the floods," Stained Glass TV spokesperson Nomfundo Zondi tells TVwithThinus.

"On both productions, we couldn't shoot for numerous days due to our sets being flooded and cast and crew being unable to make the journey to work. Lastly, all location and street scenes were temporarily halted simply because the weather wasn't conducive."

"Fortunately, we were able to quickly make the necessary reparations to the sets to resume production. Our hearts are with all those impacted, It is indeed a tough time for KwaZulu-Natal as many have not only lost jobs and homes but loved ones as well," she says.

Production will resume today on Imbewu, the prime time soap from Grapevine Productions on e.tv that lured 3.44 million viewers in March and which is also filmed in the flood-ravaged province.

"Due to weather conditions and flooding, some personnel were severely impacted and unable to travel to work," spokesperson Nilesh Singh says.

"As such, the production was halted on 12 and 13 April. A production break of one week for Easter, starting on 14 April was already scheduled and the production will resume as normal on Wednesday".

e.tv and VIU to court over streaming rights contract for Scandal! and Imbewu after online piracy fight.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv and VIU are squaring off in court today with the free-to-air commercial broadcaster and the foreign video streaming service operating in South Africa that are fighting over piracy claims that led to an alleged breach of the R38 million content licensing contract for streaming.

VIU an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, trading as PWWC Vuclip PTE Ltd, applied for an urgent court interdict in the Johannesburg High Court in a case that will be heard on Tuesday, 17 August, demanding that eMedia stops streaming e.tv's own soaps Scandal! and Imbewu on its own, just-launched video streaming service eVOD.

e.tv launched eVOD a week and a half ago but before that licensed the streaming rights of shows like Rhythm City, Scandal! and Imbewu to VIU. 

Box set episodes from season 14 of Rhythm City, season 3 and 4 of Imbewu, as well as seasons 18 and 19 of Scandal! are still available on VIU but e.tv has halted sending VIU any new further episodes or any new e.tv content.

At eVOD's media launch when TVwithThinus asked e.tv if its content will still be available on VIU, the broadcaster said that its existing shows of which Catch Up rights have been licensed to MultiChoice's DStv Now will remain accessible on that pay-TV provider's streaming service but that e.tv's content is no longer available on VIU and is being moved to eVOD.

"As our contractual obligations ride themselves out, we're consolidating our content on our OTT service which is the logical thing to do," Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Holdings CEO, said.

Sunday World reported that according to the court papers filed by VIU, the streaming service says that it acquired the exclusive streaming rights from e.tv for Scandal! and Imbewu for over R37 million on 31 December 2019 as part of a content licensing agreement that is supposed to run until 2024.

According to the terms of the contract VIU is supposed to get the back catalogue of library episodes from the series older than a year, as well as the latest episodes that collectively contributes to 20% or one-fifth of the overall revenue that VIU makes in South Africa.

Ryan Solovei, country manager and co-founder of VIU Africa, claims that e.tv allegedly abruptly cancelled the streaming content licensing contracts with VIU, after eMedia discovered that another platform, Philosopher App, was uploading pirated copies of Scandal! and Imbewu to a type of online streaming platform called Philosopher: Stream Mzansi SA Soapies.

According to Ryan Solovei, e.tv allegedly accused VIU of colluding in the piracy of e.tv's content and cancelled the content licensing deals, damaging VIU that is allegedly suffering financial harm.

"The ineluctable conclusion is that e.tv engineered a contrived cancellation of Vuclip's licensing agreements to gain access to exclusive content, which was exclusively licensed to Vuclip, but which e.tv wished to broadcast on its own platform," the court documents state.

e.tv told TVwithThinus that it stopped funneling content to VIU due to piracy concerns, that Scandal! and Imbewu is e.tv's content and confirmed that there is a case pending.

"eMedia can confirm that we are aware of the pending case and allegations made by VIU," e.tv said in response to a media enquiry.

"eMedia had a licensing agreement in place with VIU to stream the eMedia owned-programmes Scandal! and Imbewu, which it recently terminated due to piracy concerns."

"We have a responsibility to safeguard the intellectual property and integrity of our programming content, and we are acting in the best interest of all our stakeholders. Piracy threatens the livelihoods of many and we have a duty to act against it."

Ryan Solovei didn't respond to a media enquiry at the time of publishing and comment will be added here if received.

Coronavirus: e.tv's Imbewu drama series produced in KwaZulu-Natal also shutters over Covid-19 case; exposed cast and crew tested and set deep-cleaned.

by Thins Ferreira

Yet another local South African TV show has been forced to shut down with e.tv's Imbewu that has now shuttered because of a Covid-19 positive case.

Imbewu is the latest primetime series on South African television that will continue broadcasting episodes although the Grapevine Productions series filmed in KwaZulu/Natal is shutting down for deep-cleaning of the studio and sets.

M-Net's The River (produced by Tshedza Pictures) on 1Magic (DStv 103) was the first show to shut down in May after local productions geared up again following the 2-months shutdown because of the national lockdown period which started in late-March.

That was followed by Skeem Saam on SABC1. Both The River and Skeem Saam are back in production again.

After them followed Muvhango (produced by Word of Mouth Productions) on SABC2; as well as Rhythm City (Produced by Quizzical Pictures) and Scandal! (produced by Ochre Media) both on e.tv and will all three of these who are still shut down.

7de Laan (produced by Danie Odendaal Productions) on SABC2 also shut down because of Covid-19 but is now back in production. Generations - The Legacy (produced Morula Pictures) on SABC1 and Lithapo (produced by Quizzical Pictures) on SABC2 were the next two shows to shut down and both are still closed.

South Africa's struggling TV and film industry has already shed thousands of jobs in the three months since April that cameras were first turned off and studio doors closed and now haltingly try to make a go of it as Covid-19 cases keep popping up everywhere forcing new shutdowns.

"e.tv can confirm that a positive case of Covid-19 has been recorded on the late prime weekday show Imbewu. The KwaZulu-Natal local production premises have shut down, and the necessary testing for exposed cast and crew members is underway," says e.tv in a statement.

"The set will undergo deep cleaning to further minimize the risk of contamination, as per Covid-19 protocols. In respecting the privacy of our talent, cast and crew’s medical and health matters, we will not be issuing the names of any affected individuals."

e.tv says that "the health of affected employees will be monitored over time, and filming will resume when it is safe to do so as set out by health authorities. All Covid-19, level 3 protocols, and guidelines will once again be adhered to with stringent controls once the required cast and crew are back on set."

Fundiswa Zwane exits e.tv's Imbewu after 2 years, actress walks from Grapevine Productions after pay raise ask is turned down.

by Thinus Ferreira

Actress Fundiswa Zwane has exited and decided she's walking from e.tv's primetime series Imbewu: The Seed after a pay raise negotiation didn't work out, following 2 years of helping to build the Grapevine Productions show into a success.

Twitter and influencers on Tuesday fuelled fake news rumours on social media that Fundiswa Zwane was allegedly "fired" from Imbewu - something that's completely untrue. It's not clear where the rumours started.

Sources close to the show told TVwithThinus on Tuesday afternoon that it was the actress who decided she's out the studio doors after approaching show bosses for a pay raise to get what she felt she's worth and it didn't work out.

Fundiswa Zwane, who plays the character of Ka-MaDonsela, will have her last on-screen appearance on 29 July 2020 after she joined Inbewu since its inception two years ago in 2018. It's not clear whether the character is getting killed off or being recast.  

While e.tv issued the obligatory "e.tv wishes Fundi well, in all her future endeavours" in a press statement on Tuesday which often happens when talent and production separate, sources tell me that everything isn't as flowery behind-the-scenes.

e.tv says that "Fundi has been a tremendous pleasure to watch. She brilliantly epitomized the role of Ka-Madonsela, a wife whose roots are deeply set in her culture. The past two years have served as a true testament to who Fundi is, a strong talent in the South African TV industry. She has navigated her time at Imbewu with unmatched professionalism".

e.tv says nothing in the press statement about the remuneration issue between the actress and the production that is the reason that led to the actress' exit from Inbewu.

"We will miss her big personality, dedication to her craft, and sense of adventure. e.tv and the cast and crew of Imbewu will always treasure the time spent with Fundi," says Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director, in the prepared statement.

Fundiswa Zwane, in the prepared statement, says "I  am proud of what meaningful business and artistic collaboration has been able to achieve over the past 2 years. I echo Marlon’s sentiments, the past 2 years have bred beautiful relationships".

"It has been a great journey travelled and I, like millions of South Africans, am so excited with what Imbewu will continue to achieve through this beautiful story that so many enjoy."

How South Africa's no-sex soaps are adjusting on-set during Covid-19: Creative camera tricks, no holding hands and the end of on-screen intimacy.

by Thinus Ferreira

As South Africa's hugely popular TV soaps turn sexless and are even kissing kisses goodbye during the Covid-19 pandemic, producers and directors plan on using nifty camera tricks and other cinematography secrets to fool viewers as filming resumes on the country's local primetime productions.

As studio lots from Cape Town to Johannesburg and Durban reopened this week for cameras to roll on soaps and telenovelas ranging from Uzalo and Suidooster to Rhythm City, and from Generations to Getroud Met Rugby, Scandal!, Binnelanders and Skeem Saam to Imbewu, broadcasters and production companies now have to juggle and adapt story demands and completed scripts with extremely strict on-set Covid-19 preventative regulations.

According to the latest published Covid-19 regulations for Level 4 of the country's national lockdown period, the responsibility is on broadcasters like the SABC, e.tv, M-Net that runs channel collections like Mzansi Magic and kykNET on DStv, as well as MultiChoice, to ensure that series that were already in production adhere to the latest rules.

These include things like replacing craft services with packed boxes of lunches and a total limit of on-set cast and crew of 50 people.

Also no sex scenes, please.

While the casts and crews where soaps have started to reopen with filming this week - and SABC2's Venda weekday soap Muvhango, produced by Word of Mouth, that will start on Monday - are all wearing masks and face shields on studio lots, actors' masks come off when they're in front of the camera, although they're filmed standing further apart and in single scenes.

The regulations have banned intimate scenes or close contact between actors and this is where writers, producers, cameramen, directors and video editors will have to become creative.

It's the end for bed-hopping and smootches for the young crowd of SABC1's Skeem Saam filmed at Sasani Studios for now where filming started on Monday.

"We have had to make sure that we restrict the number of people shooting at a time so that we are able to keep safe distances. There will no longer be scenes filmed where there is close contact between characters," publicist Sumaya Mogola told TVwithThinus. "Whether it might come across differently on screen, we can't really say at this point."

Sexy time is also out on Generations, produced by Morula Pictures in Johannesburg, where production and filming resumed on Tuesday with groups of cast and crew now divided into workflow teams to keep them separate. The production team now consists out of three teams of up to 12 people.

"Yes, there won't be any physical contact between the actors," Generations publicist Nandipha Pantsi told TVwithThinus. "No kissing, holding hands or intimate scenes. Actors will also be practising social distancing on set. Camera trickery will be used to make them appear closer together."

South Africa's most-watched TV show, Uzalo on SABC1 produced by Stained Glass TV on its Durban studio lot switched on the cameras again on Wednesday and here, also, Covid-19 has canned the on-set canoodling.

"No intimacy will be permitted in performance," Uzalo publicist Nomfundo Zondi tells me. "Where possible, the number of cast members participating in a scene will also be limited."

In the fictional Hillside suburb of SABC2's 7de Laan, filming already started on Friday 1 May last week at Sasani Studios although the workflow never really stopped. The Afrikaans weekday soap that initially would have run out of episodes by 25 May had a core team who kept working to complete further episodes already filmed.

7de Laan's editing team worked from home during Level 5 of lockdown managing to complete episodes to now keep the show on the SABC2 airwaves until at least 1 June. The scripting department also kept writing and churning out new scripts from home.

7de Laan also confirms the end to kissing and any other intimate scenes between Hillside characters. "Extras will only be used if it’s absolutely necessary to do so and this will be kept to the bare minimum. There will be no intimate or close contact between actors," the soap says.

e.tv's two Sasani Studios produced soaps - Rhythm City done by Quizzical Pictures and Scandal! done by Ochre Moving Pictures - as well as Imbewu filmed in KwaZulu-Natal from its harbour-front studios in Sydney Road all resumed production, keeping to the new regulations with a ban on kissing and on-screen intimacy.

"Scripts will be adjusted accordingly without compromising any storylines," says Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director.

Getroud met Rugby (GMR), produced by Overberg Produksies at Atlas Studios in Milpark, Johannesburg as one of kykNET's three weekday Afrikaans soaps also kicked off again on Monday with filming.

"We're incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be able to work again," executive producer Soné Combrinck tells TVwithThinus, noting that the rugby-themed production "jumped to quickly prepare everything according to the latest government rules and regulations".

"It makes everyone feel safe knowing that the studio environment is safe to work again. The team quickly adapted to the new regime of temperature checks, wearing masks, sanitising hands and surfaces."

She says GMR's directors and camera team are extremely creative and that while adjustments are being made kykNET viewers can still look forward to the soap that will be filled with a lot of drama, intrigue and humour.

kykNET's Suidooster produced at Atlantic Studios in Cape Town by Suidooster Films, and Binnelanders produced by Stark Films at Stark Studios in Johannesburg, were also asked about their shows but didn't respond with any answers.


ALSO READ: Coronavirus: South Africa's decimated film and TV industry allowed back to work amidst Covid-19 pandemic – but without extras or studio audiences.
ALSO READ: Coronavirus: Independent Producers Organisation cautions that 'the situation is fluid' as South Africa's film and TV industry is allowed back at work under strict on-set requirements.

Coronavirus: e.tv and kykNET soaps temporarily shutting down production for 21-day national lockdown in South Africa because of Covid-19.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv's locally-produced drama series and soaps, as well as the soaps and drama series on M-Net's kykNET (DStv 144) are now shuttering production ahead of the 21-day national shutdown in South Africa to try and minimise the rapid spread of Covid-19 cases as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spread globally.

Mzansi Magic shuttered its HomeGround sports magazine show produced by SuperSport last week, with the talent search reality show Maak My Famous with Emo Adams that postponed in-studio audience filming of the second season season until April.

This was followed by Danie Odendaal Productions that shut down its 7de Laan weekday Afrikaans soap filmed at Sasani Studios on Tuesday. The cinema chains Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro have now also shuttered in South Africa.

Until last week all locally-produced weekday soaps seen on the SABC's SABC1 and SABC2 channels, e.tv, M-Net's 1Magic, Mzansi Magic and kykNET channels continued with production, as well as locally-produced magazine and current affairs shows.

SuperSport also continued with its locally-produced magazine and talk analysis shows, while reality shows like M-Net's second season of The Bachelor SA produced by Rapid Blue and Survivor SA: Immunity Island produced by Afrokaans for M-Net (DStv 101) and the 16th season of Idols produced by [SIC] Entertainment for Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) also remained in production.

On Wednesday kykNET told TVwithThinus that it is shutting down its Afrikaans soaps and drama series in production.

These include Binnelanders produced by Stark Productions, Suidooster produced by Gambit Films, Arendsvlei produced by Penguin Films and Getroud met Rugby produced by Overberg Productions.

kykNET says that all of its locally-produced shows "will adhere to preventative measures that have been announced by president Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday 23 March 2020".

kykNET says that the announced 21-day lockdown that will last until 16 April 2020 will not impact the current broadcast schedules of the daily dramas due to the fact that they are filmed in advance.

Reggy Moalusi, MultiChoice South Africa's executive head for corporate affairs, told TVwithThinus on Wednesday that "producers are in constant communication with the kykNET content team who are working on strategies to limit the impact of Covid-19 on the video entertainment industry, including actors, technical teams and viewers, to the absolute minimum".

Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director, told TVwithThinus on Wednesday morning that e.tv is temporarily shuttering its soaps Rhythm City produced by Quizzical Pictures, Scandal! produced by Ochre Moving Pictures and Imbewu produced by Grapevine Productions, as well as other drama series as well.

e.tv said that viewers don't need to worry since the free-to-air commercial broadcaster has enough already produced episodes.

"All production companies who work on our daily dramas and soaps will not be filming during the national lockdown but will continue on-air during the national lockdown."

He said that e.tv will continue to deliver news and entertainment programming during the national lockdown period.

It's not yet clear what will happen to SuperSport's locally-produced magazine shows or M-Net's Carte Blanche. 

SuperSport was asked but referred the media enquiry to MultiChoice on Tuesday who didn't respond with any answer. M-Net said it would provide an answer later in the week. The SABC said it would answer on Wednesday.

Mzansi Magic didn't give an answer as to what's happening with the production of Idols when asked with the show that just completed the initial round of nationwide auditions to prepare for the Johannesburg first group round.

e.tv on the remarkable similarities between Imbewu the TV show and Imbewu the Artscape stage play: Simply 'coincidendal'.

Following a case of alleged copyright infringement, e.tv is calling the multiple, remarkable similarities between the free-to-air broadcaster's Imbewu drama series, and the dramatic play Imbewu that preceded it, simply coincidence.

It comes after a dispute over copyright according to The Mail & Guardian that first reported it, after the young playwright Sinethemba Twani (29) from Gugulethu, Cape Town, who works as a petrol attendant, noticed the multiple similarities between his play entitled Imbewu that enjoyed a successful stage run at the Artscape theatre, and e.tv's similarly entitled Imbewu that started in April.

Imbewu, the TV show, is produced by Grapevine Productions, a joint venture between Videovision Entertainment, Word of Mouth Pictures and Luys Productions with Duma Ndlovu and Anant Singh.

When Imbewu started on e.tv, Sinethemba Twani suddenly got congratulatory messages from family, friends and others who were under the impression that his Artscape stage production has been adapted into e.tv's TV series.

Besides the same titles, Imbewu the TV show shares several similarities with Imbewu the play - the first draft of which Sinethemba Twani wrote in 2011.

In both Imbewu's a business man is sterile. In both Imbewu's his wife is impregnated by someone else with his son who isn't his biological child and the man unaware of it. Both Imbewu's explore the repercussions of the secret.

The way in which the man in both Imbewu's discover they're sterile are the same - both hear it from a sangoma. The way in which the men in both Imbewu's find their initial investments as start-up capital for their business empires are the same.

In Imbewu the play a man convinces his friend to sell his cattle inheritance after the death of his father to invest in a start-up business (taxis). In e.tv's Imbewu a man convinces his brother to sell his cattle after the death of his father to invest in a start-up business (oil).

Michael Pocock, e.tv publicist, told The Mail & Guardian that Imbewu the script of Imbewu the TV series was developed in 2015 and that "the similarities are coincidental, and the story of Imbewu also reflects all the demographics of the KwaZulu-Natal region where it is based".

Last month content creator Glodine "Vuvu" Makapela also made an accusation of alleged copyright infringement on Twitter against David Tlale of The Intern that was on SABC3 and Pearl Modiadie of the SABC's reality design competition series on SABC1, Raw Silk that has been renewed for a second season, saying they stole her concept entitled Top Designer she came up with in 2011.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 11 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Trashy TV reporter AJ Bayatpour assaults a competitor at an American football game.
And an unhinged idiot punched a TV reporter in New York


■ Ant dumped: ITV's alcoholic presenter Ant McPartlin who's back in rehab over drugs and drinking problems has been dumped from the latest season of ITV's Britain's Got Talent with Declan Donnelly who will be presenting on his own.
ITV sends Ant "all our love". It comes after the co-presenter of Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV Choice (DStv 123) was arrested last month on drunk driving charges and also vanished from that show.


■ German TV is starting to sanitise its television series by not wanting to portray the true evil of Nazi Germany.

■ Zimbabwe students at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) are furious after their DStv is cut off, start protest action over their lack of entertainment.


■ In a leaked recording of a tense staff meeting of CNN International (DStv 401) in London, managing director Tony Maddox said he is "surprised by this, shocked and disappointed" by the results of an internal gender pay gap survey as CNN executives were confronted by female employees, including Christiane Amanpour over being paid less than men at CNN.


■ Catt Sadler who left E! for not wanting to pay her as much as much as her male co-anchor Jason Kennedy, says she should have asked E! Entertainment (DStv 124) for more money much earlie from the NBCUniversal Networks channel that's one of the places mired in a gender pay gap controversy.
She's also wrote a must-read essay for Vanity Fair over equal pay E! was asked to comment but refused.


■ FOX Networks Group's offices in West-London raided by European Commission investigators who seized documents and computers and who will remain on the premises on Wednesday and Thursday. The reason for the raid isn't clear. FNG says it iscooperating with the inspection.

■ What viewers would like to see more of in the second season of Being Bonang on 1Magic (DStv 103).

■ Let this sink in: Netflix does a Los Angeles premiere for its new TV show Lost in Space (for a TV show, not a movie) at the Cinerama Dome with the cast and full press in attendance where the show is previewed with reviews from TV critics coming out hours later. Meanwhile e.tv can't get its act together for a proper launch for its new local drama series Imbewu. How very sad.

ANALYSIS. e.tv's show, Imbewu, to rival SABC's Uzalo has a problem before it's even started, as e.tv signals to the media and TV critics how little importance it attaches to its own show.

With less than a week before Imbewu will start on e.tv as a rival for the SABC's Uzalo on SABC1, e.tv has a big problem that is of its own making as the broadcaster is making it very clear how little importance e.tv is actually attaching itself to Imbewu as it signals to the media covering television that the production isn't a show to bother with or something worth spending any time or attention on.

With Imbewu - The Seed starting on e.tv sometime next week, e.tv has done basically nothing to bring the show under the attention of the national press covering television and South African TV critics attention. Who knows why?

Produced by Grapevine Productions, a joint venture between Videovision Entertainment, Word of Mouth Pictures and Luys Productions with Duma Ndlovu and Anant Singh, it now seems as if either e.tv executives are thinking that Imbewu is trash - or that e.tv just can't actually be bothered enough to promote its own show properly.

Either way, what the lack of e.tv's effort and attention to get media involvement with and for Imbewu is now signaling to the media, is that e.tv is sending a deliberate sign in a crowded local TV drama series field filled with many soaps and telenovelas, that Imbewu is not worth the attention nor the time of TV critics and the press - and by proxy not worth viewers' attention nor time.

Imbewu at this stage is probably another one of those throwaway local productions that's little more than a late prime time timeslot filler, not worthy of any significant press attention. If it were, e.tv would have put effort into signaling and reaching out to the media that Imbewu was important by actually communicating with journalists and all national media about it.

If Imbewu mattered - or mattered enough - to e.tv, the broadcaster would have brought normal marketing and publicity practice to bear and would have involved, reached out to and sought out national journalists and press attention for Imbewu.

That however is - by this far too late stage - something that e.tv hasn't bothered (failed?) to do.

It's also important to remember that e.tv's Imbewu even before starting the broadcast of its first episode, had already suffered controversy over things like the anti-Indian group known as the Injenje Yaba Nguni Council that in February this year threatened to burn down Anant Singh’s Videovision offices if Imbewu dared to portray racial tensions between Indians and other groupings.

Then there's also the allegations of sexual harassment that was made by an Imbewu on-set extra.

You'd think that e.tv would have worked out some plan to do even more marketing and publicity for Imbewu given the controversy and many things that's unclear around the show; that e.tv would have organised some type of a pre-show press conference like other broadcasters, would have reached out by offering up the cast and producers for interviews, and would have make screener episodes available for reviews or would have done a pre-screening for national media.

e.tv didn't want to do any of that for Imbewu.

The biggest conclusion to draw from this is that Imbewu isn't of importance to e.tv, since the broadcaster's PR and marketing machine - and the people appointed by e.tv to do Imbewu publicity whoever they are - deliberate took the decision and chose not to reach out to the press to drum up buzz and national viewership support before the start of the show.

This past Thursday or Friday e.tv apparently organised some so-called "Imbewu media launch" somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal but national media didn't even know about it, nor did e.tv's publicity division communicate anything about it at all.

e.tv's marketing and publicity and whoever is responsible for the show's PR couldn't bother and neither beforehand, nor afterwards, wanted to tell and inform national media and TV critics that there would be a so-called "media launch" of Imbewu somewhere in KZN - presumably Durban.

Imbewu is set in KwaZulu-Natal's Durban and surrounding areas and revolves around two rival families, exactly like Uzalo on SABC1. With Leleti Khumalo who jumped ship from Uzalo to the new similar-looking Imbewu, e.tv that hasn't done anything to explain why it's doing  a show that before its launch next week looks like a copycat type show.

e.tv's marketing and publicity and whoever is responsible for dealing with the media on behalf of Imbewu didn't issue any transcripts of what was said by Imbewu's production executives, e.tv executives, or actors appearing in Imbewu. A typed up record or so-called "rush transcript" in the biz of what was said probably doesn't even exist.

There's been no roundtable Q&A, no press release for Imbewu, after the "launch" event, and no basic publicity material like cast publicity images, character descriptions or episode synopses issued.

What did Duma Ndlovu, Anant Singh and Leleti Khumalo as producers have to say, if any of them attended and spoke? We don't and won't know. What did Ziyanda Mngomezulu, the general manager for content services at e.tv, or Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director, say if these or other e.tv executives spoke? Again, we won't know.

Not fact-checked, but apparently e.tv showed an episode of Imbewu - or some of it - to people at the so-called "media launch". If true, it's sad and shocking that e.tv continues to blatantly discriminate by only showing footage to certain people but not giving national press an equal change to sample show's for review purposes.

It's bad that e.tv and its marketing and publicity division couldn't bother with making the effort to show or preview Imbewu to the national media and TV critics, irrespective of whether it showed some of it at some "launch".

There's been no screener issued either through an online preview service as is being done by other broadcasters and several streaming services locally and internationally for South African media, or a DVD screener disk, or by holding any type of a screening room event for this Imbewu. It's embarrassing.

e.tv also didn't reach out to offer up e.tv executives or Imbewu showrunners, producers or cast members - something that is almost always done by the publicity teams of broadcasters with their noteworthy new shows.

TVwithThinus polled other journalists and media covering television about Imbewu on Monday afternoon. All asked said that they knew nothing and heard nothing from e.tv regarding Imbewu or any apparent media launch.

A few said they saw something on Twitter that e.tv held some type of a "media launch" in KZN for Imbewu but that they didn't bother investigating or giving it attention and that they won't be bothering with Imbewu purely because e.tv "didn't bother to send me any information or really do anything". I won't add what some other journalists covering television said but it was all negative about e.tv and Imbewu.

Quite telling is how e.tv's marketing and publicity approach to Imbewu is different when comparing the like-for-like show to SABC1's Uzalo.

When the SABC launched Uzalo three years ago in February 2015, it invited national TV critics and a group of strategic media from across South Africa for a whole day media launch in Durban.

The Uzalo media launch before the show started included a comprehensive, guided set visit at the studio, watching the blocking and filming of scenes, an elaborate on-location set visit to several of KwaMashu's streets and buildings where exteriors are filmed, round table interviews with producers and cast at the studio, as well as showing the first episode to media and an official evening event launch.

The SABC and Uzalo also gave full press packs to media attending as well as to media who wasn't there more than a week in advance before Uzalo started.

e.tv chose not to do any of this for Imbewu and the broadcaster's deliberate under par publicity effort for the show is a signal to the media that it shouldn't bother much with Imbewu either.

With so many other shows, broadcasters, streaming services and TV channels - local ones as well as international ones available in South Africa - and who are putting in a lot of effort to get attention and press for shows, the bulk of the media will very likely quickly forget about Imbewu before it's even started.

The same happened with e.tv's Broken Vows that the channel didn't want to properly bring under the national media's attention last year in April and was eventually basically dumped and swept from existence after less than a year after terrible ratings on e.tv.

Is Imbewu a "worse", "same" or "better" show than Uzalo? It's not possible to say. What is possible to say, is that Imbewu is, now, perceived as less or lesser or a show, "thanks" to e.tv's lesser effort for whatever reason, around the show.

For viewers, TV executives and people working in television in South Africa and following news about Imbewu and possibly wondering why there's not more about Imbewu in the national press just days before the first episode will be broadcast - its because e.tv chose to do less publicity than others.

The result is that the media are and will be attaching less importance to it and will very likely be giving Imbewu less exposure than what otherwise would or could have been the case.